15 True Stories That Could Belong in a David Lynch Movie

An ordinary day can quickly turn unforgettable when something surreal, unsettling, or deeply uncomfortable happens. These moments feel like they’ve slipped out of reality and into a strange, dreamlike world—where nothing is quite right, and you’re left questioning what you just witnessed.

Here are 15 true stories that feel like they could belong in a David Lynch film.

1. My older sister used to play our Disney read-along tapes every night, guiding me through the words in the books. Years later, I realized she was using the tapes to drown out the sound of our parents fighting downstairs. She was just a kid herself, sacrificing her own childhood so I wouldn’t hear the chaos.

2. I was washing my hands in a restroom when a glamorous woman walked in, pulled a tube from her purse, inserted it into her belly button, and urinated through it into the sink. She removed it, put it back in her bag—still dripping—and walked out without washing her hands. I just stood there, stunned.

3. At Disney, I saw a man sitting in the shade, staring at his phone. Suddenly, he stuck out his tongue and slowly licked the entire screen like he was cleaning it. I nearly walked into someone because I couldn’t stop staring.

4. On a bus, I watched a woman grab her child and literally suck the snot out of their nose. She didn’t spit it out. I gagged and got off at the next stop.

5. When I was five in Los Angeles, I saw my first homeless person. He stood on the sidewalk having a furious argument—with a palm tree.

6. I arrived at work at 6 a.m. and saw a woman pacing outside the building. As she passed me, I realized her hands were cuffed behind her back. She kept walking like nothing was wrong.

7. At a birthday party, a mother couldn’t get her daughter’s attention because the girl was talking to friends. So the mom poured an entire pitcher of water over the table in frustration.

8. In seventh-grade music class, a cockroach crawled out of a classmate’s armpit. I still shudder thinking about it.

9. At a Las Vegas bus stop, I watched a woman trying to pop a zit on her husband’s neck. When she couldn’t, she called their daughter over to try.

10. In a restaurant, a man stood at a soda dispenser with a razor, pressing the water button and shaving his armpits over the drain.

11. On the freeway during a windstorm, tens of thousands of balloons suddenly blew through traffic. Cars slowed to a stop as we were completely surrounded by floating color for about a minute. Then they vanished.

12. On a bus, an elderly woman boarded with a stroller filled not with a baby but with old newspapers. She sat down, pulled out a silver dinner fork, and calmly combed her chin hairs with it.

13. I bought a used laptop from a friend. Inside was a folder labeled “PRIVATE.” It contained dozens of webcam videos—of me, in my bedroom. My friend insisted he had wiped the laptop. A technician said it must be a virus, but no one could explain how the footage existed. I got rid of the laptop and never felt the same about that friend again.

14. My wife noticed a blinking light in our Airbnb’s smoke detector. I unscrewed it and found a hidden camera. We packed and left immediately. When I left a review warning others, the host replied, “You fool, it’s a motion detector.” It wasn’t.

15. One summer night, my husband and I were on our porch when a couple walked past. The taller person carried an umbrella and wore a full-head mask with attached blonde hair and a giant, frozen grin—like something out of Planet of the Apes. They didn’t say a word. They just kept walking.

Some experiences don’t need special effects or dramatic music. They’re unsettling enough all on their own.